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May

2011
VOLUME 68 NUMBER 11

F E A T U R E S

8

The Cowboy Way
By Jesse Mullins
Photos by Skeeter Hagler
The storied Renderbrook Spade Ranch
south of Colorado City has known the
tread of Texas cow horses and cowboys
for 122 years.

14

A Real Jaw-dropper
By Mike Coppock
Palo Duro Canyon, the so-called “Grand
Canyon of Texas,” floors the imagination
with dramatic drops and a lush riot of
colors. The canyon has been center stage
for some of Texas’ most significant history.

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POWER talk

down to the queen, killing the
whole mound in about a
week. Reapply as needed.
Don’t let pets eat it.

Letters from Texas Co-op Power Readers

FIRE ANT COMMENTS
What a great cover and article
on South American phorid flies
and red imported fire ants
(“WAR,” March 2011). Several
years ago, officials with the
Texas AgriLife Extension
Service in Denton County asked
if we would participate in an
experiment to see if the flies
would winter in North Texas.
One fall morning, we met
officials at a family ranch on
Denton Creek and dug out ant
mounds with trowels. The ants
were sent to a lab and
[exposed] to the phorid flies.
A few weeks later, when we
returned the ants to their home
mounds, it was like a bad sci-fi
movie in which earthlings are
snatched away, infected with a
killer disease and returned
home to spread the disease. As
spring came on, the flies were
hovering over the ant mounds.
The last we heard, the flies had
spread several miles in all directions. While not gone, the ant
population is not as much of a
problem as before.
BILL MARSH
Fannin County Electric Cooperative

As much as we hate fire ants,
we hate ticks even more. When
we moved to Blanco County in
the 1970s, there were zillions
of seed ticks in the cedar trees
and swarms of them in the
barn. They were a frightening
nuisance at picnics: There was
nowhere to run to, nowhere
to hide.
Then, the fire ants moved
in, and it seems they ate all the
ticks, because we’ve not been
troubled by them for decades.
We can kill the fire ants, but
never could deal with all the
ticks … so hooray for fire ants?
MARCIA CASH
Pedernales Electric Cooperative

ANNA LAWLER
Victoria Electric Cooperative

Please do not let anyone
spray phorid flies over the
countryside. We are living in
near-harmony with the fire
ants. My experience in the
cattle pasture is that they
have a beneficial function in
inhibiting the populations of
ticks and chiggers. The ants
are in turn limited by the serious Texas periodic dry conditions. I prefer the ants.
ROBERT SCHUHMANN
Fayette Electric Cooperative

READ MORE LETTERS
See “Letters to the Editor” in
May’s Table of Contents at

TexasCoopPower.com
When it comes to getting rid
of fire ants, here’s what
works for me: Start with dry
cat or dog food, stir in jelly to
make it sticky, then mix in
about a tablespoon of powdered boric acid. Drop a teaspoonful of this concoction
onto each mound. The worker
ants love it and will carry it

When I acquired a small
place near Bergheim 20-odd
years ago, I was unhappy to
find several mounds of fire
ants in a pasture. We bought
chickens, and the big surprise came about a few years
later when I discovered I had

no more fire ants. I can’t
prove it, but it seems to me
that the chickens did the job—
and in very environmentally
friendly ways.
PAUL HUDGINS
Lake Dallas

BARBARA JORDAN
We watched our son receive his
diploma at The University of
Texas College of Pharmacy
graduation ceremony in May
1986. Former U.S. Rep. Barbara
Jordan (“The Eloquent Barbara
Jordan,” March 2011 issue) was
the speaker and said something
that I have remembered all
these years: “There ain’t nothing worth nothing, that ain’t a
little trouble.”
D. BRYANT LANGFORD
Director, Cherokee County
Electric Cooperative

We want to hear from our readers.
Submit letters online under the Submit and
Share tab at TexasCoopPower.com, e-mail us
at letters@TexasCoopPower.com, or mail to
Editor, Texas Co-op Power, 1122 Colorado St.,
24th Floor, Austin, TX 78701. Please include
the name of your town and electric co-op.
Letters may be edited for clarity and length
and are printed as space allows.

The March 2011 “WAR” article explains how South
American phorid flies are being used as weapons in the
fight against red imported fire ants. What is to stop the flies
from laying eggs in household pets, livestock or even in people outdoors? Will these flies be a nuisance to the public?
Where can further information be found on these critters?
Very interesting article.
Murphy Ross, Jasper-Newton Electric Cooperative

Editor’s note: We asked Rob Plowes, a research associate at
The University of Texas’ Brackenridge Field Laboratory, to
respond to concerns from Ross and other readers that the
phorid flies described in the story would cause harm to humans or animals.
Plowes writes: “The introduced phorid flies are not going to take over or become pests
for humans or other species. Pseudacteon flies are only known to parasitize ants, and each
species has particular adaptations to specialize on their host ants. This level of host specificity is also true of the introduced flies that attack red imported fire ants. Detailed host
testing was needed to get permits for release of these flies. Over 40,000 species of phorid
flies likely occur, each with a specialized diet and life history.”
For more information about the flies, go to www.sbs.utexas.edu/fireant/FAQ.html.

May 2011 TEXAS CO-OP POWER

5

POWER connections
Energy and Innovation News—People, Places and Events in Texas

CFLs:
Questions, Concerns
and Answers
Debunking some myths about those
curly, energy-efficient bulbs
By Kevin Hargis

F

or more than a century, the incandescent lightbulb has been the global
standard for electric lighting. But
those days are numbered as more
efficient lighting options become available.
In fact, U.S. sales of some incandescents
will be phased out by 2014 under the socalled, federally mandated “lightbulb law.”
But concerns have been raised about the
safety and expense of the most common
alternate lighting technology—compact
fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs)—which typically last longer than equivalent incandescent bulbs and use a fraction of the energy.
Considering that about 12 percent of
home energy use is devoted to lighting,
according to the U.S. Department of Energy,
switching to CFLs can provide savings.
Here are some common concerns about
CFLs and some facts that may allay them:

CFLs cost too much.
The price of a CFL, which went for $9 or
more a decade ago, has dropped, although
one of those curly CFLs still costs substantially more than an incandescent. But consider the energy savings: They use about 25
percent of the electricity to provide the
same amount of light. So despite paying
more up front, users will save in the long
run with reduced electricity costs.

CFLs don’t last as long as incandescents.
Consumer Reports (www.consumer
reports.org) has tested an array of CFLs
and found that they lasted five to 10 times
as long as incandescents. Many bulbs have
warranties, so if one doesn’t last as long as
6 TEXAS CO-OP POWER May 2011

advertised, consumers may be able to get
their money back if they have their receipt.

Putting CFLs in the trash can contaminate the environment, and recycling programs don’t exist.
Unfortunately, the approximately 4 milligrams (mg) of mercury contained in a
typical CFL can escape into the environment if the bulb is thrown in the trash. But
some retailers, including The Home Depot
and Lowe’s, now have CFL-recycling programs (not all stores participate). And
many counties in Texas have disposal programs that accept CFLs. (Find a recycling
option in your area at www.epa.gov/cfl/cfl
recycling.html.)
Popular Mechanics magazine has calculated that the electricity used to power a
CFL over its 7,500-hour life will be responsible for 3.5 mg of mercury from powerplant emissions. The equivalent emissions
from using incandescent lighting are about
13.2 mg. This means that even if a CFL
breaks and its mercury content escapes
into the atmosphere, it will have released
about 6 fewer milligrams of mercury over
its lifetime than an incandescent.

The bulbs emit a harsh, bluish light.
The spectrum of light from early CFLs
was a white-blue that many people found
unappealing. But manufacturers now offer
bulbs that give off a warmer light, similar
to that emitted by incandescent bulbs.
Kevin Hargis is a Certified Cooperative
Communicator.

How to Clean Up a Broken
Compact Fluorescent
Lightbulb (CFL)
A CFL’s glass tubing contains
about 4 milligrams of mercury.
While this isn’t much (classic
thermometers contained 500
milligrams), consumers should
still take precautions if a CFL
breaks.

1. Close off the room and
ventilate it if possible, then
wait 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Scoop up powder and
glass fragments using stiff
paper or cardboard. Place
everything in a sealable plastic
bag or jar.

3. Use duct tape to pick up
remaining fragments or powder. Put used tape in bag or jar.

Burleson County has all the right ingredients for its second annual GREAT
TEXAS SAUSAGE FESTIVAL:

sausage races (for those zany and
unpredictable dachshunds), a Dutch
oven cook-off (featuring sausage recipes
only) and a sausage-eating contest.
The festival, sponsored by the
Burleson County Chamber of
Commerce, is set for May 7-8 at Welch
Park on Lake Somerville. One fun
event links to another, with the
lineup also featuring lawnmower
races, doggie costume (dachshunds
only) and kite-flying contests, a car,
truck and motorcycle show, and
hydroplane boat races.
For more information, call (979)
596-2383 or go to www.greattexas
sausagefestival.com.

CO-OP PEOPLE

OFFICIAL LARGE MAMMAL
The longhorn is famous as The
University of Texas at Austin’s
mascot. A lesser-known fact is
that the longhorn also is the
state’s official large mammal,
as designated by the Texas
Legislature in 1995. The Texas
longhorn is a hybrid resulting
from a random mixing of solidcolored Spanish retinto
(criollo) stock, typically tan or
dark red, and English cattle
that Anglo-American frontiersmen brought to Texas in the
1820s and 1830s.

Milkshakes, Malts and Marriage:
A Recipe for True Love

old-fashioned soda fountain.
BY ASHLEY CLARY
On September 14, 2010, that dream came
In 1954, high school sophomore Hank Lovejoy
true when Lovejoy’s celebrated the official openwas a soda jerk at Finley-Hayes Pharmacy in
ing of a soda fountain. Here, customers step
Whitesboro, north of Dallas. While he created
into the past: The milkshake maker, lime
creamy milkshakes, malts and other sweet
squeezer and refrigerator unit date back to the
treats, a girl named Rita caught his eye.
1950s. And the stained-glass cabinets are repliRita came to the soda fountain almost
cas modeled after an earlyevery day carrying an 181900s photograph of the soda
month-old baby who called her
fountain where Hank worked
Mommy. “I thought, ‘Golly! I
as a teenager.
don’t know anything about
“He loves it,” Rita says of
babies!’ ” Hank recalls, chuckher husband. “He has such a
ling. “It turns out, she was just
good time behind that counter
the baby sitter.”
whipping up those milkshakes.
And as it turns out, the 15And he's pretty fast at it, too,”
year-old Rita was to become
she says, pausing before
the love of his life. Fifty-seven
adding, “for his age.”
years, three children and nine
“Ah, Rita,” Hank responds,
grandchildren later, Hank and
“we still have a good time,
Rita—the Lovejoys and loveHank and Rita Lovejoy share a
don’t we?”
birds who have been married
treat at Lovejoy’s on Main Street.
Hank said he recently told
52 years—remain inseparable.
a visiting couple from Denton, “You know, back
In 1983, Hank and Rita, members of
when I was a sophomore, I did this for work.
Grayson-Collin Electric Cooperative, opened
Now, I do this for fun.”
a business called Lovejoy’s on Main Street,
which included a garment factory and a ladies’
For more information, call (903) 564-3685 or
wear store. They eventually added gifts, homego to www.lovejoysonmain.com.
décor items and a restaurant, eliminating
Have a suggestion for a future Co-op
the garment and fabric-cutting operations.
People? Contact editor@texascooppower.com.
But something was missing: Hank had long
— Ashley Clary, field editor
nurtured a dream of owning and operating an

Cowboy Way
RANCH-HAND ACES KEEP THE FIRE BURNING FOR ONE OF TEXAS' MOST STORIED BRANDS: SPADE

TOP: A stone arch spans the entrance to Renderbrook Spade Ranch,

the oldest, largest and most celebrated of the Spade Ranches’ spreads.
BOTTOM: When it comes to toughness, Marty Daniel is a cut above:

It takes more than a broken neck and a broken femur—injuries from
which he’s fully recovered—to keep this cowboy out of the saddle.

8 TEXAS CO-OP POWER May 2011

With the dawn but an hour away, the night is damp and
bracing. Overhead, the Milky Way—yes, it’s visible here!—
spreads its filmy, barely-there swath.
In the taillights of his four-horse trailer, John Welch,
CEO and president of Spade Ranches, tugs at the cinch on
his horse. Another mount, saddled, also awaits loading.
Sounds carry on the night air: the ticking rumble of the
idling diesel pickup; the thudding stamp of a hoof; the
ching-ching of spurs; the nicker of a don’t-let-me-be-lonely
gelding, left penned for action another day.
This is cattle country. This ground south of Colorado City
has known the tread of Texas cow horses and Texas cowboys
for 122 years. It’s the dirt of Renderbrook Spade Ranch, the
oldest, largest and most celebrated spread in the Spade
Ranches operation. And its influence runs deep across the
history of West Texas ranching. As described in Steve
Kelton’s book Renderbrook: A Century Under the Spade
Brand (Texas Christian University Press, 1989),
Renderbrook traces the evolution of ranching from an
open-range, longhorn-dominated industry to state-of-theart operations that specialize in genetics, nutrition, marketing and range science.
Barbed-wire fences, of course, have been built on plenty
of other ranches, but this place is, literally, the ranch that
barbed wire built. Founding owner Isaac Ellwood of Illinois,
one of the nation’s first barbed-wire patent holders, dipped
into his burgeoning fencing fortune to fund the purchase of
the ranch in 1889 when it was hardly more than a frontier
cow camp.
These days, it’s a sophisticated, spread-out operation.
Welch, 60, normally works out of the company’s Lubbock
headquarters more than 100 miles to the northwest. But on
a brisk October morning, he’s made a special trip to
Renderbrook. With passengers—equine and otherwise—
loaded, he slides behind the pickup’s steering wheel and
eases the rig out, bound for the far side of the ranch, a long
haul away. Like, 15 miles away. A 45-minute drive on caliche
ranch roads.

Of the six ranches under the Spade Ranches brand,
Renderbrook, by far the largest unit, employs only about
five people most of the time. “We have longtime employees
and young men, too,” Welch said, in the glow of the dashboard. “Kind of a mix. We have two in their early 20s.”
The soft-spoken Welch has remarked on more than one
occasion that the West Texas ranching occupation calls for
“the kind of person who has some character and bottom to
them.” “Bottom” is a cowboy’s term for staying power. For
tenacity. For gumption.
So the question is, are those kind still “out there”?
“I think we are producing them, in the kids that grow up
on these ranches,” he said.
Renderbrook Manager Steve White believes there are kids
today with that character, just waiting for the opportunity.
“Yes, and there are a lot of good young cowboys out there
right now,” he said. “Like anything else, it runs in cycles. But
it’s back in vogue, and there are a lot of young people who
want to get back to nature, or [get back to what’s] ‘green,’ or
just to be outside and [on] horseback.”
Here, there’s nature in abundance. At 190 square miles
(roughly 122,000 acres), Renderbrook Spade consumes a
sizable chunk of Mitchell County and spills into Sterling
and Coke counties as well.
The pickup comes to a halt, and Welch and a companion
are soon horseback themselves, picking their way among
the mesquite and junipers along a ridge above the Colorado
River. The yipping of coyotes rises from a nearby draw.

Welch sits a horse with a natural ease, as might be
expected of one whose uncle is renowned horseman and
rancher Buster Welch. Buster, dubbed the “Father of the
Cutting Horse,” is the only five-time winner of the National
Cutting Horse Association’s World Championship Futurity.
In places on the ranch, the mesquite and cedars and
prickly pear have closed ranks. “The biggest challenge is the
encroachment of brush,” John Welch said. “You can clear it,
but it comes back strong. One mesquite stump will sprout a
bunch of shoots where only one trunk had been before.”
Records indicate that the ranch, which runs more than
3,000 head of cattle, stocked roughly twice as many cattle a
century ago before brush encroachment affected the ranch’s
carrying, or grass grazing, capacity.
The proliferation of mesquite has affected something
else as well.
With the countryside becoming brushier, and more difficult to navigate, “real cowboying” remains an indispensible
skill. Maybe more so than ever—here and on ranches across
Texas.
“What we have found—what generation after generation
[here] has found—is really that some of the traditional
methods are still the most efficient,” Welch said. “This
country is too rough and too brushy to gather any other way
but horseback.”
And that’s what keeps the real-deal cowboys at their posts.
The Renderbrook hands have it tough. Injuries happen—
bovines being generally “disapprovin’ ” when they’re not

Renderbrook regulars, from left, Wichita Falcon, Marty Daniel, Steve White and Kaleb Jackson, head out for a day’s work.

May 2011 TEXAS CO-OP POWER

9

downright ornery. The hours can be long. The summers are
scorching. In winter, bitter cold and tree-bending winds can
make a guy wish for a town job, a windbreak, anything.
But here, things are still done the “right” way, the cowboy
way—and that makes everything worthwhile.
White ticks off the names of three hands who ride full
time for this brand: “Marty Daniel, Kaleb Jackson, Wichita
Falcon.”
Yes, Wichita Falcon. Was there any way he could have
avoided a cowboy career, with a handle like that? White
laughs. “Poor Wichita—he never had a chance.”
Falcon, though, is fine with it. “I’m doing what I love,” he
said.
At 20, Falcon is already a family man, with a wife and
young daughter who share an
on-premises home with him.
In his working life, his
biggest satisfaction is “being left
alone so you can do your job.”
The hardest part, he said, is
rounding up every head—“getting everything” when riders
sweep a pasture. And the riskiest part of the work comes
when one is trying to do a job
“on a green horse.”
The work is risky enough as
it is. The green—that is, stillin-training—horses only make
it riskier. But that just comes
with the territory.
Jackson, who has been
employed at Renderbrook only
slightly longer than Falcon, is
on the Spade Ranches’ ranch
rodeo team (in fall 2010, the
team advanced to the World
Championship Ranch Rodeo
in Amarillo). Rodeo riding is
rough. And on a recent workday at the ranch, Jackson went
about his work with some stiffness from the beating he took
from a bronc the week before.
Daniel, the third regular on
ranch manager White’s everyday lineup, has worked on
ranches since he was 16. Now
48, Daniel has a résumé that
includes stints at other wellknown ranches such as the
TOOLS OF THE TRADE:
Pitchfork, the Beggs, the Tongue
TOP: A catch rope hangs at
River and the Waggoner, just to
the ready on a saddle.
MIDDLE: The distinctive
name a few.
Spade brand is a miniature,
So why the Renderbrook?
short-handled shovel.
Daniel said he likes the people
BOTTOM: Tall boots—with
here. And, believe it or not, he
spurs to boot, of course—are
also likes the brush.
standard equipment in rattlesnake and brush country.
“It’s the challenge of this

1 0 TEXAS CO-OP POWER May 2011

‘BRISTLING BARBS’
No matter which side of the fence you’re on, history is clear: Barbed
wire, alternately cursed and praised by farmers, ranchers, settlers
and politicians, did not have smooth beginnings en route to reinventing the American West.
In a 1939 Agricultural History journal article titled “Barbed Wire
Fencing—A Prairie Invention: Its Rise and Influence in the Western
States,” author Earl W. Hayter describes “bristling barbs”: the fencing
that carved a new face of the West.
In addition to writing that barbed wire “encouraged the further
settlement and exploitation of the Great Plains,” Hayter explained
that the fencing forced bitter battles over land ownership, ended the
open-range era of cattle drives, and dictated that travelers follow
roads rather than cross formerly wide-open, unfenced land.
Barbed wire is essentially that: smooth wire with barbs. Its
American origins date to 1867, when William D. Hunt of New York was
issued the first crude patent for the fencing. Over the next several
years, inventors in the DeKalb, Illinois, area began experimenting with
barbed wire. One of them, farmer Joseph Glidden, known as the
“Father of Barbed Wire,” perfected a fence whose twisted, doublestranded design is still seen throughout Texas.
In 1874, DeKalb businessman Isaac Ellwood purchased a half
interest in Glidden’s patent and formed a partnership with him. In the
wake of their work, tough competition arose among small factories.
By 1889, Ellwood, who was manufacturing barbed wire on a commercial scale, had ventured to the Lone Star State to market his product.
He used part of his growing fencing fortune to purchase what now is
the Renderbrook Spade Ranch in West Texas—one of the state’s first
spreads to use barbed wire.
Barbed wire, as is befitting the name, sparked many a controversy:
Livestock sometimes were killed by the electrical charge when lightning struck nearby fences, and cattle huddled along fence lines during blizzards froze to death when they couldn’t find shelter.
But not even the violent fence-cutting war of the early 1880s,
which started in Texas, could stop the proliferation of barbed wire. As
Hayter wrote, “a new chapter was ushered in on the plains. The stockmen and farmers with their better breeds of cattle, better management, better grass, and smaller herds had come to stay.”
—Rachel Frey, editorial intern

There are no easy trails on the Renderbrook Spade Ranch. This rugged brush land demands staying power—bottom, cowboys call it.

country—it’s different than a big, clear flat,” he said.
Like all cowboys, he relishes his time in the saddle. In
January, early one frigid morning, Daniel, in a hurry to
gather the horses, saddled a mount that was “a little too
fresh.” Being in a hurry, he ignored his better instincts and
climbed aboard—whereupon the horse, as the saying goes,
“took him to a bronc ride.”
As White described it, the horse “just blowed up” and
bucked Daniel off. The cowboy came down on a knee and
broke his femur. It took surgery, including the insertion of a
rod and a couple of screws, to patch things up. The wreck,
cowboy lingo for something going terribly wrong while riding or working with a horse, occurred on a Wednesday. By
the weekend, Daniel was back to chores, albeit hobbled. In
three more weeks, he was fully recovered.
That accident happened with Daniel aboard a well-broke
horse. And there’s an even riskier situation: trying to get
something done, as Daniel and Falcon put it, “on a horse
that doesn’t know anything.”
And, yes, it happens.
In summer 2010, Daniel was on such a horse and was
trying to maneuver a bull through a gate. He loped his horse
around the bull, opened the gate and then was trying to get
back around the bull to drive him through the gate.
“I don’t know exactly what happened with the horse,”
Daniel said, “but he went down. He fell with me and rolled
on me.”
Daniel’s neck was broken. His collarbone, too. He was all
alone in a big place.
“My first words, soon as I got up, were, ‘Jesus, you’re
going to have to help me.’ And he did.”
Daniel was “two or three miles” from help. He’s not sure
how he managed to cover the distance. But he did.
And for all of that, he is delighted to be recovered and
back in the saddle, doing the same work as before. Bottom,
they call it.

Cowboy poet Paul Zarzyski once said that 19th century
cowboys “were made out of whang leather and grit.” Well,
they’re still making them that way.
There have been some new twists, of course. Even
Renderbrook has implemented new technologies. As White
remarked, “When it comes to the marketing of our calves, to
get into the overseas market, we are age- and source-verifying
our calves and putting electronic ear tags in them—that kind
of stuff.”
Still, for sheer satisfaction, the “real cowboy” dimension
seems to be what’s most gratifying about Renderbrook Spade.
As for carrying on the old ways, “We are not doing this to
honor tradition or just for sentimental reasons,” Welch said.
“But it is nice that it is a traditional way of doing it.”
White agreed. And he finds something else in it, too,
such as when he sees young cowpokes helping with
Renderbrook roundups.
“I dunno—you can get to thinking that the world is
going to hell, but then you can visit with some of these
younger kids, and they are very respectful, very mannerly,
and they will look you in the eye,” he said. “And it kinda
gives you hope for this world. It’s like they say, there are
still good cowboys out there—you just can’t see them from
the highway.”
Jesse Mullins, who lives in Abilene, was the founding editor
of American Cowboy magazine and served as its editor-inchief from 1994-2009. He blogs at www.jessemullins.com.

On TexasCoopPower.com
Read more about Spade, a hallowed name in Texas ranching lore that
covers roughly 300,000 acres on six storied spreads. The oldest and
largest of the Spade ranches, Renderbrook, traces its beginnings to
“Cool Water and Cold Steel,” the title of the opening chapter in a book
that describes the ranch’s two key, initial ingredients: barbed wire and
a freshwater spring.

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Compressors, Air & Power Tools, Material Handling,
Woodworking Tools, Welders, Tool Boxes, Outdoor
Equipment, Generators, and much more.

28° ANGLE FRAMING NAILER

LOT NO. 68068

NEW!
WE CARRY A
FULL LINE OF
FASTENERS

$

FREE!

OFF

Item 90899
shown

ANY
SINGLE
ITEM!

ITEM 90899/98025

REG. PRICE $9.99

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 1 Use this coupon to save 20% on any one single
item purchased when you shop at a Harbor Freight Tools store. *Cannot be used with
any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on any of the following: gift cards,
Inside Track Club membership, extended service plans, Compressors, Generators, Tool
Cabinets, Welders, Floor Jacks, Campbell Hausfeld products, open box items, Parking
Lot Sale items, Blowout Sale items, Day After Thanksgiving Sale items, Tent Sale
items, 800 number orders, or online orders. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after
30 days from original purchase date with original receipt. Coupon cannot be bought,
sold, or transferred. Original coupon must be presented in-store in order to receive the
offer. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 1 Free item only available with qualifying
minimum purchase (excluding price of free gift item). Cannot be used with any
other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days
from original purchase date with original receipt. Offer good while supplies last.
Shipping & Handling charges may apply if free item not picked up in-store. Coupon
cannot be bought, sold or transferred. Original coupon must be presented instore, or with your order form, or entered online in order to receive the offer.
Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 5
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 4
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 5
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 3
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 5
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 4
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

R !
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3" HIGH SPEED
CUT-OFF TOOL
Item 47077
shown

LOT NO. 47077/67425

6SAVE

REG.
$ 99 $19PRICE
.99

65%

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LOT NO. 66287

4

LEATHER INDUSTRIAL
WORK GLOVES, 5 PAIRS

R !
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NO.
CO LOT65570

RECIPROCATING SAW
WITH ROTATING HANDLE

SAVE
50%

REG.
$ 99 PRICE
$9.99

One size
ﬁts all.

$

1999

REG.
PRICE
$39.99

SAVE
50%

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 9
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 8
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 5
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 5
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 4
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 3
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 4
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 4
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 5
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 6
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 4
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 4
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

R !
PE ON
U
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R !
3/8"
PE ON
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SAVE
S U
COItem 40%

4-1/2" ANGLE GRINDER
LOT NO. 95578

Grinding wheel
sold separately.

9

40462
shown

SAVE
44%

$ 99

x 14 FT. GRADE 43
TRUCKER'S CHAIN

R !
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SAVE
33%

LOT NO. 40462/97711

REG.
PRICE
$17.99

Not for
overhead
lifting.

$

1799

REG. PRICE $29.99

6 PIECE
PLIERS SET

LOT NO.
38082/46005

Item 38082
shown

9

$ 99
REG. PRICE
$14.99

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 8
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 4
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 8
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

R !
PE ON
U
S UP
CO

R !
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S UP
CO

HIGH SPEED METAL SAW
LOT NO. 91753/113

SAVE
66%

12 VOLT
MAGNETIC
TOWING
LIGHT KIT

R !
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S UP
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LOT NO.
2707

SAVE
36%

LOT NO.
96933/67455

SAVE
66%

Item 113
shown

9

REG.
$ 99$29PRICE
.99

Item 96933
shown

9

$ 99
REG. PRICE $29.99

8 FT. 8" x 11 FT. 6"
FARM QUALITY TARP

6

REG.
$ 99 $10PRICE
.99

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 7
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 8
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

HARBOR FREIGHT TOOLS - LIMIT 9
This valuable coupon is good anywhere you shop Harbor Freight Tools (retail stores, online, or 800 number). Cannot
be used with any other discount or coupon. Coupon not valid on prior purchases after 30 days from original purchase
date with receipt. Offer good while supplies last. Coupon cannot be bought, sold, or transferred. Original coupon must
be presented in-store, or with your order form,
or entered online in order to receive the coupon

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

discount. Valid through 8/25/11. Limit one
coupon per customer and one coupon per day.

WAYS
TO SHOP!
T
3 EASY

1. VISIT!

2. GO TO!

3. CALL!

350 Stores Nationwide

www.HarborFreight.com

1-800-423-2567

BY MIKE COPPOCK

a real jaw-dropper

Flat-out amazing: Majestic
Palo Duro Canyon floors the
imagination

Driving U.S. Interstate 27 between
Lubbock and Amarillo, the world
whizzes by and morphs into a monotonous landscape: an unbroken horizon
line, pale blue sky, pale blond grass and
fields as far as the eye can see.
From the heart of the Southern
High Plains and on up north to the
Panhandle, the region known as the
Llano Estacado (Spanish for “staked
plains”) is dead-flat and mostly treeless
tableland dominated by farms and
ranches.
If you’re a stranger to these parts,
you would never guess that southeast
of Amarillo, and only 15 miles east of
Canyon, is the most spectacular and
scenic place in the Panhandle: a jawdropping formation known as Palo
Duro Canyon—the so-called “Grand
Canyon of Texas” whose walls abruptly
leave the flat land behind, plunging
some 800 feet to the canyon floor. It’s
the second-largest canyon system in
the United States (after the Grand
Canyon in Arizona), a geologic wonder
in the Caprock that erupts in a lush riot
of colors—red, orange, yellow, purple—
where layers of sedimentary rocks trace
the timetable of life on Earth.
Majestic and surprising, Palo Duro
(Spanish for “hard wood” in reference
to the Rocky Mountain junipers found
in the canyon) was center stage for
some of the most significant history in
the development of Texas: massive buffalo herds and Indian sanctuary, frontier battlefield and one of the West’s
most legendary cattle ranches.
Now the canyon, whose land mass
predominantly is carved up by privately
owned ranches, is home to one of Texas’
1 4 TEXAS CO-OP POWER May 2011

largest and oldest state parks—Palo
Duro Canyon State Park—which state
officials, in recent years, have nearly
doubled in size to 30,000 acres. Today,
the park, which officially opened in
1934, serves as a starting point for history buffs and outdoor enthusiasts
wanting to explore the deep mysteries
of the Panhandle region.

C OOL R ELIEF
Over the course of roughly 1 million
years, the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the
Red River cut into the Caprock
Escarpment, creating a deep gash some
800 feet deep, about 100 miles long and
an average of six miles wide. Erosion
took the canyon deep into the earth to
open the massive Ogallala Aquifer,
which by some estimates holds the same
amount of water as Lake Erie. Even in
the hottest summer, cool water runs
under the shade of the canyon’s walls
and water-carved rock formations. For
ancient Indian tribes, the canyon offered
protection from bitter Panhandle winters—no wonder scientists have found
evidence of native people living here as
long as 12,000 years ago.
Although there is no archaeological
evidence to support the story, some oral
histories hold that in 1541, Spanish
explorer Francisco Vázquez de
Coronado—while searching for the
fabled “Seven Cities of Gold”—became
the first European to enter Palo Duro
Canyon. By some accounts, Apaches
living in the canyon brought
Coronado’s men gifts of buffalo hides.
But finding no cities of gold, Coronado
struck out toward what is now Kansas.
By 1700, Comanches migrating

from the north drove the Apaches
south and west, where many remain
today throughout parts of New Mexico,
Arizona and Texas. There is evidence
that throughout history, nomadic
Southern Plains tribes sometimes wintered within the canyon, most likely
clustering tepees into tribal villages.
In the winter, it’s about 10 degrees
warmer on the canyon floor than it is
on top, said Bill Green, curator of history emeritus for Panhandle-Plains
Historical Museum in Canyon. “It was
almost a Garden of Eden, I would
think,” he said.

T HE R ED R IVER WAR
In 1864, cultures collided in a big way
when explorer and Indian fighter Kit
Carson encountered and fought a large
number of Comanches and Kiowas living in villages at an abandoned structure called Adobe Walls, which was
built by merchant William Bent in
1843 as a trading post for Southern
Plains Indians. Carson and his men
were greatly outnumbered, and he
retreated back to New Mexico.
But the tables were turned in 1874,
during the second battle of Adobe Walls.
A group of mostly Comanche, Kiowa
and Cheyenne—according to some
accounts led by Comanche warrior
Quanah Parker, Comanche medicine
man White Eagle (Eschiti) and Kiowa
Chief Lone Wolf—attacked the post in
an unsuccessful effort to drive out white
buffalo hunters. The Indians, in a battle
that stretched over several days, proved
no match for the hunters and their new
technology: .50-caliber Sharps rifles
accurate from long distances.

Lighthouse Peak looms as Palo Duro
Canyon’s signature geologic feature. The
310-foot-tall peak is an excellent example
of a hoodoo—a strangely shaped spire of
rock—and holds National Natural
Landmark status through the U.S.
Department of the Interior.
LAURENCE PARENT

May 2011 TEXAS CO-OP POWER

15

L EGENDARY R ANCHER
After the Red River War, the canyon
underwent a remarkable transformation—it became a massive ranch where
cattle roamed free before the arrival of
barbed wire. In the fall of 1876, onetime Texas Ranger and famed pioneer
Charles Goodnight, with backing from
Irish financier John Adair in 1877, created the first permanent ranch in the
Texas Panhandle. Known as the Palo
Duro Ranch, and using JA as its brand,
the ranch at one time encompassed
some 1.3 million acres. Still in operation today, the JA has been carved up
into many smaller parcels.
In 1887, sensing the end of the era
for his mighty cattle ranch, Goodnight
terminated his partnership with
Adair’s wife, Cornelia Ritchie Adair.
Ultimately, he did not receive a onethird portion of the ranch, as was originally promised, but he did receive, in
part, the north end of the ranch and
moved there into a two-story house
that he constructed near Goodnight, a
town to which he gave his name, about
12 miles southeast of Claude. The
house still stands near U.S. Highway
287. Goodnight died in 1929 and is
buried in the Goodnight Cemetery.

J EALOUSLY G UARDING ITS B EAUTY

TOP AND MIDDLE: : The faces of Comanche
warrior Quanah Parker and legendary rancher
Charles Goodnight serve as indelible images of
the historical dichotomy of Palo Duro Canyon.
BOTTOM: Bernice Blasingame (left), interpreter for Palo Duro Canyon State Park, helps
generations of Texans get a close-up look at
details big and small.

During the 1930s, Palo Duro was considered as a site for the first national
park to be established in Texas, but
with land acquisition too expensive and
troublesome, Big Bend eventually got
the honor. Instead, in 1934, Texas created Palo Duro Canyon State Park with
about 15,000 acres of purchased land.
Texas Highway 217 was built to
descend from a visitor center (built by
the Civilian Conservation Corps) to the
floor of the canyon, crossing the main

tributary of the Red River six times.
Generations of Panhandle residents
have frolicked at Palo Duro, enjoying varied outdoor adventures. State Park
Interpreter Bernice Blasingame, 65,
remembers swimming at Palo Duro with
her family as a child. When they emerged
from the water, their skin and swimsuits,
or shorts and T-shirts, were tinged red
from the river’s high iron content.
Today, visitors also can explore the
canyon south of the park by driving
Texas Highway 207 south from Claude,
which crosses the fork in a breathtaking downward plunge along one of
Texas’ most scenic drives.
In recent years, Blasingame has
accompanied Comanche tribe members who visited the canyon to honor
their ancestors from the Red River War
and participate in a cedar ceremony (a
traditional cleansing ritual involving
smoke from cedar chips). She heard
stories that were passed down through
generations. “You could see the sadness
in people’s faces,” she said.
In 2005 and 2008, the state
acquired several nearby ranches to
expand the park to nearly 30,000
acres, principally with the addition of
the Harrell Ranch, which includes the
original JA ranch headquarters and the
Palo Duro battlegrounds. Over the next
year or so, state park officials plan to
start opening portions of the expanded
areas to visitors.
Local historian Green notes that
unfortunately for tourists, some of the
most spectacular and breathtaking
portions of Palo Duro Canyon remain
out of reach, in the hands of private
landowners.
“On the positive side,” Green says,
“Palo Duro Canyon remains relatively
untouched by humans, including the
people who own pieces of it and jealously guard its beauty.”
Mike Coppock, a former college history
instructor and newspaper editor, is a
Denver-area freelance writer.

On TexasCoopPower.com
Learn more about Palo Duro
Canyon, including “Texas!,” one
of the world’s most spectacular
outdoor dramas. And read up on
a plethora of activities offered,
from horseback riding to primitive camping.

The attack was the catalyst for the
Red River War, a series of skirmishes
with the U.S. military that resulted in
the confinement of Southern Plains
Indians to reservations in Indian
Territory (now Oklahoma).
Ultimately, as explained by Jeff
Indeck, chief curator for PanhandlePlains Historical Museum, the South
Plains Indians retained their culture,
even as they were forced off their native
land. But their free way of life as bisonhunting nomads on horseback was lost
forever.

U.S. GOVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T GOLD
U.S. Gold Coins Authorized for Immediate Release

TRIM THE FAT
from Your Biggest Electric Expenses
Knowing which household activities consume the most electricity can help
homeowners determine where they can save on electric bills.
Regulating temperature inside the home uses the most electricity. Almost
40 percent of the electric bill for an all-electric home covers the cost of cooling and space heating, according to U.S. Department of Energy data.
As Texas approaches hotHOW YOUR HOME USES ELECTRICITY weather months—when temperatures outside can reach triple
digits—having an effective cooling system becomes crucial.
Finding ways to increase the efficiency of an air conditioner can
create a cost savings on electric
bills during the summer.
To make the best use
of an air conditioner, it
helps to know two basic
principles about how most
units work: Air conditioners
(1) decrease humidity; and
(2) lower air temperature.
Decreasing humidity
inside and increasing a unit’s
capacity for cooling can help
keep your home comfortable. Here
are some practical methods to keep
humidity and temperatures down:

ire departments across the nation
responded to about 380,000 homestructure fires between 2003 and
2007, according to the National Fire
Protection Association (NFPA). One of
the main causes of residential fires,
whether sparked in houses, condominiums or apartments, was electrical
distribution or lighting equipment.
Of the home electrical fires during
that four-year period, 41 percent
involved such equipment. Some culprits of those fires were:
≠ Wiring and related equipment;
≠ Lamps, light fixtures and lightbulbs;
≠ Cords and plugs; and
≠ Transformers and AC adapters.
Other potential electrical fire hazards include kitchen ranges, washers
or dryers, fans, and space heaters.
Fires involving electrical distribution
or lighting equipment caused about
$709 million in direct damages,
according to NFPA statistics.
Electrical failure or malfunction
can cause home-structure fires, but
some preventive measures can limit
your risk. The NFPA recommends taking the following measures to avoid
electrical shock and fire dangers:
≠ Swap out or fix damaged or loose
cords.
≠ Don’t run electrical cords across
doorways or beneath rugs.
≠ Make sure your home has
tamper-resistant outlets, especially in
households with children.
≠ Think about having additional
outlets installed by a technician to

Avoid putting electronics
that produce heat near the
thermostat during summer. Heat coming from a
lamp or TV set can skew
the temperature reading,
Never run electrical cords beneath rugs.

causing the air condition-

eliminate the need for extension cords.
≠ Don’t overload outlets, and limit
one high-wattage appliance to each.
≠ If you have problems with circuits tripping, fuses blowing or lights
flickering or dimming, call an electrician. Warm switches or electrical outlets can also be a sign of a potential
problem.
≠ Keep lamps on flat surfaces and
away from flammable materials. Only
use bulbs that match a lamp’s recommended wattage.
≠ Get ground-fault circuit interrupters in the kitchen, bathrooms,
laundry rooms and basement to prevent electrical shock caused by ground
faults, and consider installing arc-fault
circuit interrupters to prevent arcing
faults in home electrical wiring.

ing to work harder than
needed.

Did You Know...
Cooperatives are voluntary,
democratic organizations, open

Electrical Home-Structure Fires—By the Numbers

to all persons able to use their
services and willing to accept

72
39

the responsibilities of member-

percent of electrical-distribution or lighting-equipment fires
happened because of electrical failure or malfunction.

ship. In the case of an electric
cooperative, that means the

percent of civilian deaths from electrical home fires resulted
from fires starting in the living room, family room or den.

people who buy the electricity
own the company.
ILLUSTRATION BY CARL WIENS

May 2011 TEXAS CO-OP POWER

19

TEXAS USA

Booger Red
It’s a cinch:
Tall tales and all,
this pint-sized
cowboy could ride
any bronc.

By Charles Boisseau

2 0 TEXAS CO-OP POWER May 2011

Tourists visiting Fort Worth’s historic district have long quenched their
thirst at Booger Red’s, an Old West-themed saloon where you can sit on
saddle bar stools and shoot the bull while drinking Buffalo Butt beer.
Most of the patrons have no idea there once was a real Booger Red, a pint-sized
Texan and nearly forgotten legendary cowboy who overcame a childhood accident
that disfigured his face to win widespread acclaim as a rodeo pioneer and “the man
who was never thrown by a horse.”
But separating fact from the tall tales about Booger Red can be as messy as
walking across a livestock corral without getting your boots dirty. It is possible, but
you have to watch where you step.
Several sources agree that Booger Red earned his nickname on Christmas Day
in 1877, according to one of the most often-told stories of his life. As a teenager, the
redheaded Samuel Thomas Privett—his real name—and a friend filled a hollow tree
stump with gunpowder to celebrate the holiday. But the gunpowder ignited prematurely, killing Privett’s friend and seriously burning Privett’s face. Doctors had to cut
open his eyelids and nostrils as the tissue healed. A child who saw Privett after the
accident said, “Gee, but Red sure is a booger now, ain’t he?” Privett’s siblings began
calling their brother “Booger Red,” and Privett liked the nickname. He went by
Booger Red for the rest of his life and often made fun of his scarred face.
While sources differ on the year and location of his birth, the Handbook of
Texas states that Privett was born in Williamson County in 1864. As a youngster,
he moved with his family to Erath County, and he spent most of his adult life in
the San Angelo area, where he specialized in breaking horses and running a traveling Wild West show with the help of his wife and their six children. Privett later
sold his show and went on the road with Buffalo Bill’s extravaganza. He retired to
a ranch in Oklahoma where he died of Bright’s disease, a kidney ailment, in 1924
(again, sources differ on the year).
One of the most famous stories of his life is “Booger Red’s Last Ride,” which was
retold in Reader’s Digest in June 1946. The story recounts how he traveled to the
1924 Fort Worth Fat Stock Show (now the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo) as
an anonymous spectator.
A rider was thrown from a particularly unruly horse, and a man in the audience
began a chant, calling for “Booger Red.” A woman sitting nearby spotted Booger
Red, and the aging bronc buster agreed to ride the horse. Men carried him on their
shoulders down to the arena floor, where officials agreed to let Privett ride the outlaw horse that was still foaming and viciously kicking.
Five minutes, 15 minutes, or half an hour? No one could say how long the exhibition lasted. As the story goes, Booger Red rode that horse until it was whipped,
then dismounted as the crowd went wild and spectators poured into the arena trying to get near him. But he slipped away and returned home to Oklahoma, only to

die a few weeks later.
“He rode the horse to the finish, and
many people said it was the prettiest riding they ever saw,” said Privett’s widow,
Mollie Webb Privett, when interviewed in
1938 as part of the Depression-era
Federal Writers’ Project.
Alas, the story might be fake.
According to one essayist, Booger Red did
ride a bronco at the Fort Worth rodeo in
early 1924 and died soon after. But
beyond those facts, the story appears to
be mostly fictional.
J. Boyd Trolinger’s essay titled “Rodeo
Cowboy: ‘Booger Red’ Privett and the
Origins of Rodeo” appears in the book
The Cowboy Way: An Exploration of
History and Culture (Texas Tech
University Press, 2006). In the essay,
Trolinger notes that the Fort Worth
Record newspaper announced Booger
Red’s ride a day in advance, and Privett
rode a “flea-bitten” bronco that had been
one of the stars of his old Wild West show.
The tales—and questions—go on and
on: Did Booger Red also discover Bill
Pickett, the black cowboy credited with
inventing bulldogging? Did Booger Red
break an estimated 40,000 horses during
his career? Did he ride a horse for 40 days
and 40 nights—and then after taming the
horse take a six-hour bath with him?
This last bit is part of the repertoire of
Jerry Young, a professional storyteller
from Mesquite who has recorded the tale
of Booger Red on a CD, a transcript of
PHOTO BY RALPH R. DOUBLEDAY, COURTESY OF NATIONAL COWBOY & WESTERN HERITAGE MUSEUM
which is on file at the National Cowboy &
Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
In an e-mail, Young admits that his Booger Red story “is fact and tall tale
meshed together. Much of the factual material was gleaned from Mrs. Mollie
Privett’s oral history interview. And yep, the 40 days and 40 nights is stretching
the case. He may have rode only 35 days.”
Even without the embellishments, Booger Red’s official history is worth
remembering. All sources seem to agree that this little man could ride virtually
anything on four legs, earning the reputation as one of the world’s best tamers of
wild horses and a natural showman during rodeo’s early years.
“For more than a quarter of a century, Booger Red was regarded as the greatest
bronc rider in the world,” wrote rodeo announcer Foghorn Clancy, who got his
start in the business at Booger Red’s Wild West show.
His three-paragraph biography at the cowboy museum in Oklahoma City,
which inducted Privett into its Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1975, paints the picture of
one tough cowboy:
“With fans screaming themselves hoarse, five-foot-four, bowlegged Booger Red
would stick to the back of a bronc like a tick to a longhorn. After winning prizes in
all the regular Texas rodeos, in 1901 he started his own exhibition as Booger Red’s
Wild West and Vaudeville Shows. He offered a $500 prize to anyone who could
bring him a bronc that he couldn’t ride. He never had to pay off.”
Charles Boisseau, a former associate editor of Texas Co-op Power, is a freelance
writer living in Austin.
May 2011 TEXAS CO-OP POWER

21

OBSERVATIONS

For All the
Marbles
The sharp clack
of glass against
glass reverberates
from playground
showoffs long ago.

BY HARRY NOBLE

2 2 TEXAS CO-OP POWER May 2011

I

n the early 1930s, the game of marbles was the king of sports in country
schools. Times were hard, and money was scarce. Sophisticated toys were
out of reach for most families, but a web pouch with five marbles cost a nickel at
Perry Brothers 5 & 10 Cent Store in San Augustine. For some youngsters, this was
all they got for Christmas.
Most marbles were perfectly round, about a half-inch in diameter, and were
made out of glass and penetrated deep inside with a variety of brilliant colors. A
few were made of steel, stone, baked clay or other materials with 1/3- to 2-inch
diameters. But veteran shooters always went for glass.
Rosevine, in Sabine County, near the Louisiana border in East Texas, was a typical country school where children either walked or rode a flatbed truck converted
into a school bus. Many arrived before the first bell rang and had time to start a
new day of games. Girls, the majority wearing feed-sack dresses and bows in their
hair, opted for hopscotch or jacks. Some of the boys started a game of deer and dog
where “dogs” chased “deer” between two bases—a large white oak and a giant
sweet gum. But for the rest of the boys, marbles were king.
The boys typically wore blue or striped overalls, went barefoot and carried
pocketknives. The overalls were made of durable material that could take multiple
patches. Shoes were too costly, and the pocketknives were used for cutting watermelons, trimming fingernails, digging marble holes and carving girlfriends’ initials in the desktop when the teacher wasn’t looking.
Grover Eddins was the No. 1 marble ace at Rosevine. His taw (favorite shooter)
was clear with two yellow streaks shot through and connected by a shaft of bright
red. He shot with his right hand, palm up, knuckles touching the ground, his index
finger curled in, and his taw balanced between the tip of the index finger and his
thumbnail. When he fired, it usually hit the opponent’s marble dead center, sticking his taw on the spot and sending his opponent’s taw far out of the ring.
The campus was naked, sandy soil; the pounding of bare feet had long since
killed any grass, making it easy to dig marble holes. But the lightest rain could
wash them out.
John Robert was second ace and fighting to move up. He and Grover came early
each morning and warmed up with two or three games of rolley-holey. The most
common game—and one endorsed by the school principal—was played with four

holes, three in a straight line and the fourth at a right angle to the third. The holes
were named “first,” “second,” “third” and “rover.”
The object was for the player who had won the lag (shooting to see who could
get the closest to a designated line) to take a span (placing a thumb at the shooting
spot, extending and spreading the fingers to make an arc, and shooting from the
tip of the arc) at first, knuckle down and shoot at second. If made, he continued by
shooting at third and then rover. If he missed, he lost his turn. When the player
made rover, he turned around and shot his way back to third, second, first and
diagonally across to rover. At that point, the player was finished with the four holes
and became a rover with the power to knock out his opponent and win the game.
When the two aces matched their skills, word spread, and an audience of boys
and girls quickly gathered. Rolley-holey was strictly prelim, and it was time to move
up to more exotic games such as bun-hole, cherry pit, hundreds, chase or ringer.
The two titans chose ringer. It had an air of sophistication and was played by
the better shooters. A two- or three-foot ring was drawn with a bull’s eye in the
center. Each player put a number of marbles on the bull’s eye. Shooting order was
determined by lagging. With the initial shot from outside, each player tried to
knock as many opponents’ marbles as possible out of the ring while keeping his
taw inside. As soon as his taw stopped outside, he lost his turn.
School rules prohibited any form of gambling—no betting was allowed. All
marble games were played for “funzies.” No one had money, but there was betting,
and the chips were marbles. For onlookers, bets sometimes included white oak
acorns or chinquapins. On rare occasions, betting reached a zenith when the individual pictures of two class beauties were at stake. Games with the purpose of winning the opponent’s marbles were called “keeps.”
Back then in rural East Texas, one could hear the sharp clack of glass against
glass. Anyone looking for the best marble shooters in the world could have started
right there with Grover Eddins and John Robert, when marbles were king.
Harry Noble lives in Iola and is a frequent contributor to Texas Co-op Power.

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FOOTNOTES

IN TEXAS

HISTORY

Dairyman to the World
BY CLAY COPPEDGE

L

ike a lot of people known primarily for one thing, Gail
Borden Jr. did a lot of things besides that for which he is
most famous: inventing the process of preserving and canning milk. That invention made his fortune and his reputation, but the “Dairyman to the World,” as he was called by
one biographer, traveled a strange and winding road to the
land of prosperity and posterity.
Borden, born in New York in 1801, made his way to Texas
in 1829 with little more than a year’s worth of formal education in Indiana, where he studied surveying. He and his
brother Tom had met Stephen F. Austin in New Orleans in
1821, where Austin told the brothers of the free land that
Mexico, of which Texas was a part, was giving away to families
willing to settle the Texas wilderness. Tom took Austin up on
the offer, but his brother settled in Mississippi for seven years
because he believed the climate there would be good for a
troubling cough from which he had suffered for most of his
life. Gail Borden Jr. brought his wife, Penelope, and their children to join Tom and Gail Sr. in Texas, where Gail Jr. took
over from his brother as chief surveyor for Austin’s colony.
Even without his condensed milk as a legacy, Gail Borden
Jr. would still warrant at least a mention in the state’s history.
He published one of the state’s first newspapers, the
Telegraph and Texas Land Register—which on March 17,
1836, was the first to report the fall of the Alamo 11 days earlier. And he is credited by some with writing the headline that
became the rallying cry for Texas independence: “Remember
the Alamo!”
Under the Republic of Texas, President Sam Houston
appointed Borden collector of customs for the Port of
Galveston, where he served a little more than a year before
Mirabeau Lamar, who succeeded Houston, removed him for
political reasons, appointing a lifelong friend to the post.
Borden returned to the position when Houston served his
second term as president of the Republic, but resigned after
a spat with Old Sam over the valuation of Texas paper
money, known as “exchequer bills.”
After Penelope died during a yellow fever epidemic in
Galveston in 1844, Borden began to experiment with ways to
preserve food, specifically meat, without refrigeration. After
much trial and error, he boiled a side of beef down to just a few
pounds and mixed it with flour to create what was billed as
“the wonderful meat biscuit from Texas.” He sold a supply to
explorer Elisha Kane for his early 1850s exploration of the
Arctic, but six Army officers reported that the biscuit had a
“disgusting” flavor and was prone to produce headaches and
nausea in people who ate it.
ILLUSTRATION BY RICHARD BARTHOLOMEW

Returning
home on a ship
from England in
1851, Borden was
distressed by the crying of ill and hungry babies who had
no access to milk because the rough
seas had either killed the ship’s
cows—brought onboard to provide
fresh milk—or made them too
seasick to milk. He vowed to
find a way to preserve milk
and dedicated the next two
years to devising and
perfecting his method.
Borden’s idea was to retain the fat but remove the water by
evaporating it in a vacuum pan to prevent contamination.
Key to the process was the exclusion of air during the evaporation process. Borden was the first to realize that milk is a
living fluid that begins to decompose as soon as it leaves the
cow, an observation that was at the heart of later scientific
breakthroughs like pasteurization.
After several rejections, the U.S. Patent Office approved
Borden’s design in 1856 after the editor of Scientific
American and others lobbied on Borden’s behalf. Initial
attempts to market the product from New York failed,
mainly because most people in 19th century America had
their own dairy cows and didn’t want or need canned milk.
With the help of benefactor Jeremiah Milbank, Borden
persisted. The Union Army ordered 500 pounds of condensed milk when the Civil War started in 1861 and eventually ordered all the condensed milk that Borden could
produce. He returned to Texas in 1867 a wealthy and
respected man.
The town of Borden in Colorado County, west of Houston,
where he settled for a time after his return, is named for him.
Two other namesakes lie southeast of Lubbock: Gail, the seat
of Borden County. Gail Borden Jr. died in Borden at the age
of 72 from pneumonia, and his body was shipped by private
train car to White Plains, New York, for burial in the
Woodlawn Cemetery. The epitaph on his grave monument
sums up his life pretty well:
“I tried and failed,
I tried again and again, and succeeded.”
Clay Coppedge is a regular contributor to Footnotes in Texas
History.
May 2011 TEXAS CO-OP POWER

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One of my stomach’s favorite times of the year comes
about now, when the weather has turned warm and the locally grown fruits of
the spring are in their prime.
While we have available almost any fruit at any time of the year nowadays—
greenhouse-grown or imported from far-away climes—nothing compares to
locally (or regionally) grown, seasonal fruit picked at the height of ripeness.
I am lucky enough to live in Central Texas and enjoy its abundance of
peaches, strawberries and blackberries during late spring and early summer.
Folks in other regions of the state can avail themselves of locally grown plums,
blueberries and wild dewberries.
If you’re lucky, you live close to one of the state’s pick-your-own farms and can
harvest a sweet bounty yourself. And if you are very fortunate, you may have
your own fruit trees.
Whether I’ve picked them off the bough or from a grocery store shelf, spring’s
sweet treats make me glad to see winter in my rearview mirror.
As for the following recipe, there’s really no such thing as a bumbleberry—it’s
a mixture of sweet and tart berries. It’s a fun word to say, though, and the taste is
fun as well.

My wife and I were introduced to this
next dish one frosty January morning
at a bed-and-breakfast between
Fredericksburg and Kerrville. Because
of the season, the peaches were not
fresh, but the canned ones tasted just
fine. This combination has become a
breakfast favorite of ours. (But I think
it’s much better when peaches are in
season.)

GLADYS ESPENSON, Navarro County Electric Cooperative
Prize-winning recipe: Plum Peachy Crisp
The sweet-tart flavor of plums and peaches works nicely in this dessert, which
sneaks in a bit of nutrition in the form of a whole-grain topping. It’s wonderful
served warm and would be great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Winner Gladys
Espenson says she likes to make this dish from the fruits off her own trees.
st

Send us your best original pecan recipes—savory and sweet. Winning recipes will highlight how to use Texas pecans
in clever and imaginative ways to dress up savory vegetables, meats and salads or your favorite cookies, pies and candies. All recipes must include pecans. Be sure to use real Texas pecans for the best results. Winners will be featured in
our December 2011 issue. Enter by August 10, 2011 at TexasCoopPower.com.

SP ONSORED

BY

TEXAS PECAN BOARD
www.TexasPecans.org
Enter online at TexasCoopPower.com. Each entry MUST include your name, address and phone number, plus the name of your Texas electric cooperative, or it will be disqualified. Specify which
category you are entering, savory or sweet, on each recipe. Send entries to: Texas Co-op Power/Holiday Recipe Contest, 1122 Colorado St., 24th Floor, Austin, TX 78701. You can fax recipes to (512)
763-3408 or e-mail them to recipes@texas-ec.org. E-mails must include “Holiday Recipe Contest” in the subject line and contain only one recipe (no attachments). Up to three entries are allowed
per person/co-op member. Each should be submitted on a separate piece of paper if mailed or faxed. Mailed entries can all be in one envelope. For official rules, visit TexasCoopPower.com.

bowl; in separate bowl, combine vanilla,
buttermilk, oil and eggs. Add buttermilk
mixture to dry ingredients and blend
with mixer or by hand. Fold in nuts and
peaches and pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 1 hour, or until firm.
As cake is baking, mix all sauce
ingredients in saucepan. Bring to boil
over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Reduce heat and continue to cook until
slightly thickened. Immediately upon

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